Looking for ...

I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
. I am looking for:
1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
meeting notifications, etc.
2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
hosted.
5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
other places.
8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
"what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
Thanks,
Steven Clift
http://stevenclift.comhttp://twitter.com/democracy

Wisconsin has
The Wheeler report http://www.thewheelerreport.com/ which is a dry as
dust update daily on the meetings at the capital.
On money we have The Democracy Campaign
http://www.wisdc.org/wdcmoney101.php that offers where the political
money comes from and to. Handy site.
We have pretty good public radio and tv that often covers local races
and stages debates, offers them streaming and able to embed in a blog.
That's a start, short on time,
Lynn

Steven Clift wrote:
>I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
>. I am looking for:
>
>1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
>to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
>meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
>meeting notifications, etc.
>
>2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
>to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
>on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
>Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
>
>3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
>
>4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
>state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
>hosted.
>
>5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
>smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
>sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
>state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
>
>6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
>of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
>public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
>
>7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
>http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
>other places.
>
>8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
>"what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
>digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
>
>9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
>requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
>them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
>
>Thanks,
>Steven Clift
>http://stevenclift.com
>http://twitter.com/democracy
>
>-----------------------------------------
>Group home for US Democracy Online Exchange:
>http://groups.dowire.org/groups/us
>
>Replies go to members of US Democracy Online Exchange with all posts on this
topic here:
>http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2lV3MOjDbFP370CDEUdCMz
>
>For digest version or to leave US Democracy Online Exchange,
>email <email obscured>
>with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
>US Democracy Online Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.
>
>
>
>

On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Steven Clift <email obscured>>wrote:
> I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
> . I am looking for:
>
> 1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
> to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
> meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
> meeting notifications, etc.
>
> 2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
> to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
> on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
> Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
>
> 3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
>
> 4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
> state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
> hosted.
>
> 5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
> smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
> sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
> state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
>
> 6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
> of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
> public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
>
> 7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
> http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
> other places.
>
> 8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
> "what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
> digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
>
> 9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
> requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
> them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
>
> Thanks,
> Steven Clift
> http://stevenclift.com
> http://twitter.com/democracy
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for US Democracy Online Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/groups/us
>
> Replies go to members of US Democracy Online Exchange with all posts on
> this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2lV3MOjDbFP370CDEUdCMz
>
> For digest version or to leave US Democracy Online Exchange,
> email <email obscured>
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> US Democracy Online Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
> http://dowire.org.
>
>

Also San Francisco requirement now to record and post online all noticed
meetings which occur in City Hall within 72 hours (I think that is too
long).
(c) Every City policy body, agency or department shall audio or video record
every noticed regular meeting, special meeting, or hearing open to the
public held in a City Hall hearing room that is equipped with audio or video
recording facilities, except to the extent that such facilities may not be
available for technical or other reasons. The City shall make such audio or
video recording available in digital form at a centralized location on the
Citys web site (www.sfgov.org) within seventy-two hours of the date of the
meeting or hearing and for a period of at least two years after the date of
the meeting or hearing.

On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Steven Clift <email obscured>>wrote:
> I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
> . I am looking for:
>
> 1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
> to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
> meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
> meeting notifications, etc.
>
> 2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
> to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
> on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
> Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
>
> 3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
>
> 4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
> state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
> hosted.
>
> 5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
> smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
> sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
> state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
>
> 6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
> of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
> public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
>
> 7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
> http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
> other places.
>
> 8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
> "what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
> digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
>
> 9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
> requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
> them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
>
> Thanks,
> Steven Clift
> http://stevenclift.com
> http://twitter.com/democracy
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for US Democracy Online Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/groups/us
>
> Replies go to members of US Democracy Online Exchange with all posts on
> this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2lV3MOjDbFP370CDEUdCMz
>
> For digest version or to leave US Democracy Online Exchange,
> email <email obscured>
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> US Democracy Online Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
> http://dowire.org.
>
>

-- right now*
By Kimo Crossman
Imagine sitting at home or in your office, or in your favorite caf and
listening in on what are now secret, backroom policy discussions and
decisions in the San Francisco mayor's office. Imagine having access to an
immediate transcript of the talks. Imagine being able to read internal
e-mail discussions among city staffers about issues that affect you
without ever filing a public records request. In fact, imagine never having
to file another written request for public documents; imagine just going to
a city Web site, entering a search term, and finding all of the records
yourself.
Imagine filing a complaint with a city agency and tracking the issue, minute
by minute, as it works its way through the system.
Imagine listening on your cell phone to any policy body as it meets in city
hall.
All of this is possible, today. Much of it is not only consistent with but
actually required by local law. And it won't cost the city more than a
modest amount of money.
Transparency is a common buzzword during this presidential campaign; the
Barack Obama campaign has even issued a white paper describing policy and
technological ways to embrace it. He's talking about live Internet feeds of
meetings about significant issues involving executive branch appointees as
well as for those of regulatory departments (a program that would go far
beyond what you see on C-SPAN).
So there's no reason San Francisco can't take the lead in using technology
generally simple, off the shelf, existing technology to dramatically
increase sunshine at City Hall and public participation in local government.
Proposition G, the city's 1999 sunshine law, mandates that San Francisco use
"all technological and economical means to ensure efficient, convenient and
low cost access to public information on the Internet." Here are five easy
ways to do that:
1. Fully adopt the voyeur concept for city meetings. This is the idea that
the public should be able to observe and engage in government decision
making all government decision making.
All policy meetings in City Hall should at the very least be broadcast as
audio on the Web and available via phone teleconference. In other words, the
meetings should be streamed online, and that stream should be accessible by
calling a free conference line. This is already standard practice in the
business world and is working well for many investors in public companies
that disclose financial information in compliance with Securities and
Exchange Commission rules. It can be done for little or no cost with
services like blogtalkradio.com, skype.com, freeconferencecalls.com, and
webex.com.
Today only a limited number of public meetings are broadcast, mostly because
the only outlet is SFG-TV and resources are limited. But audio streaming is
a no-brainer there's no need for a staffer to control cameras, the
microphones are already set up, and these days just about every room has a
speakerphone.
Currently, the SFG-TV video coverage isn't posted on the city's Web site,
sfgov.org, until two or three days after a meeting. That's too long; the
audio should be made immediately available online. And the Internet URL and
dial-in options should be listed on the meeting agenda so that news media
and citizen bloggers can instantly refer back to the URL with timecodes to
point out specifics, and include them in their stories and blog postings.
With streaming, you can follow along in real time when you are stuck at home
taking care of a sick relative, or at the office listening with headphones,
or you are disabled and can't cross town to attend in person.
The city already has a great contract for real time captioning the text
you see at the bottom of the screen for video. It's not 100 percent
accurate, but it's pretty decent. That could be expanded to cover streaming
audio, and the text could be computer translated (or translated by bilingual
typists) into other common languages. The advantage of media integrated with
RTC is that specialized search engines like blikx.com and everyzing.com can
be used to find relevant phrases and begin playback directly at that spot.
And transcriptions can be posted online in real time (somewhat like live
blogging!) so that if you are late for a meeting you can quickly scan what
has already transpired, and by the end of the meeting you will effectively
have a draft of minutes. That saves a lot of staff time and provides an
immeasurably more useful historic record.
Today, video recordings of city meetings can't be downloaded the only way
to review it or post a clip to YouTube is to order a $10 DVD, which arrives
a week after you send a check (and no, they don't take PayPal). And while
many other city meetings make audio recordings, you have to pay $1 for an
audio tape and pick it up during business hours or pay more for postage.
They all should be available as free podcasts.
The SFG-TV video shows more than just the speakers and officials; there are
other angles, and they ought to be available too. It's important to know who
attended the meeting but never said anything, who greeted whom, and even who
ignored whom.
2. Let the public do the broadcasting. All City Hall meeting rooms should
provide wi-fi (and electrical outlets), and the system ought to have enough
speed to allow bloggers or activists to upload high-quality video broadcasts
of meetings that SFG-TV can't afford to cover. It can be done using existing
services like Justin.tv, Upstream.tv, and live.yahoo.com. This would also
allow live blogging and let people preparing to testify on an issue have
access to the Web to do research on the spot. If the room had a projector
and a screen, people who were unable to attend the meeting could still
comment, either through video or just by posting text messages that the
decision makers could read.
The audio broadcasting of meetings should be expanded to include all
meetings between the mayor (or supervisors) and city staff. The law already
requires public access to so-called passive meetings those between the
mayor or department heads and outside parties that influence city policy.
3. Make public most city emails and other documents as soon as they are
produced.
San Francisco city employees produce thousands of records a day e-mails,
memos, reports, etc. and the vast majority of them are and should be
public record. But many are deleted and others never see the light of day.
When a member of the public asks for all the records on a topic, just
finding those documents can be a sizable task.
But it's technologically simply to solve that problem: every time a city
employee produces a document, the computer system should automatically send
a back-up copy to a public web server. That way nothing would get lost or
erased, and anyone looking for public information could simply go to that
site and search for it him or herself.
For e-mails sent by city staff, one way might be to CC (carbon copy) an
online message board (for example Google or Yahoo groups, which would be
available at no cost to the city). Other approaches for instant messages,
text messages and voicemails could be adopted as well. The Palo Alto City
Council is already doing something like this for a narrow collection of
e-mails (although not in real time).
We all know there are some city communications that must remain private or
be redacted for example Attorney Client discussions or human-resource
conversations regarding personnel. But there are simply ways to make sure
those stay confidential: one approach might simply have the user tick a flag
or answer a Yes/No Possible Redaction popup when the message is sent.
Certain employees like the people who handle sensitive employee health
records and certain litigators in the city attorney's office could have
software that defaults to a confidential server.
The added advantage, of course, is that the computers could also make a
record of the title and date of every confidential document and that
information could be made public. If a dispute arose over whether the city
was improperly withholding records, the public would at least know that
certain documents existed.
All city files could be stored on network drives (not on local drives) with
one location for default public files that would not allow overwriting or
deletions and would be mirrored to a Web server and another drive for the
few that may require redaction first.
4. Save all the old records. After a very embarrassing lawsuit that is
threatening the Missouri governor's job, that state in January adopted an
email retention system that preserves all email for at least seven years
(based on federal requirements for financial records). And e-mail/instant
message/text/fax retention systems are standard practice now in the
financial industry (Morgan Stanley lost a $1.45 billion judgment because the
company failed to preserve e-mail).
In fact, we all know storage continues to get cheaper and smaller so San
Francisco should abolish any retention timeframes for electronic records and
keep them all into the foreseeable future. The world-famous Internet Archive
is right here in the Presidio: I suspect that group would love to archive
all the city information, and keep it online, free and forever.
When paper documents are part of the public record, they should be scanned
and converted to text and posted within two days. This would include
discussions between staff and individual members of policy bodies and the
creation of the draft agenda and supporting materials as they are obtained.
All these methods would significantly reduce the number of public records
requests to the city staff and thus save the city money.
5. Make calendars public and keep communications public. Mayor Gavin
Newsom won't provide detailed daily calendars even after the fact, when
there is no possible security reason for keeping his workday itinerary
secret. All top officials should post their calendars on the web so the
public can track what they are doing.
The city needs to adopt a global policy that city business should be
performed on city devices (computers, email accounts, phones) whenever
possible and when city employees or officials use their own computers or
hand-held communications tools, those should be forwarded immediately to the
city system and made public.
San Francisco has one of the best local Sunshine laws in the country and
at a time when activists at every level are looking for ways to use
technology to expand public access, the city should be in the forefront. All
it takes is some political will.
----------------------------------------------------------
*Here are some more ways that the city could use technology to improve
public access:*
Host accounts payable/receivables online with the scanned images of invoices
paid.
1. Use a program like govtrack.us to follow legislative changes.
2. Explore ways to bring nonprofits that perform traditional government
services under sunshine laws.
3. Significantly improve the citys Crimestats system (more real-time allow
alerts for crimes near you) google mashup et al. See
http://chicago.everyblock.com/crime/
4. Embrace e-rulemaking technology similar to federal rulemaking use
technology to get ideas online and generate more participation for those who
cant show up in a meeting.
5. Require the Police Department to issue press credentials to bloggers.
6. Fund a few open-government lawsuits to expand the boundaries on access to
public records (the law provides for attorneys fees if the suit is
successful).
7. Require city agencies to post the method for obtaining public records
online. Require posting of all negative determinations on home pages.
8. At budget time, mandate that each agency provide statistics as determined
by SOTF on sunshine responsiveness.
9. Require an assessment of sunshine compliance as a mandatory item for all
Financial/Management audits.
10. Televise SOTF and Ethics Commission formal hearings.
11. Require active Ethics investigative files to be open.
12. Embrace fully the much-improved but incomplete example of posting online
all interactions (in realtime) as part of large contract negotiations as
was partially done with TechConnect.
http://www.sfgov.org/site/tech_connect_page.asp?id=40515
>
On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Steven Clift <email obscured>>wrote:
> I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
> . I am looking for:
>
> 1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
> to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
> meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
> meeting notifications, etc.
>
> 2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
> to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
> on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
> Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
>
> 3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
>
> 4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
> state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
> hosted.
>
> 5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
> smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
> sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
> state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
>
> 6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
> of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
> public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
>
> 7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
> http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
> other places.
>
> 8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
> "what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
> digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
>
> 9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
> requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
> them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
>
> Thanks,
> Steven Clift
> http://stevenclift.com
> http://twitter.com/democracy
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Group home for US Democracy Online Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/groups/us
>
> Replies go to members of US Democracy Online Exchange with all posts on
> this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2lV3MOjDbFP370CDEUdCMz
>
> For digest version or to leave US Democracy Online Exchange,
> email <email obscured>
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> US Democracy Online Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
> http://dowire.org.
>
>

Hello Steven,
As to local / state versions of www.usaspending.gov I just finished a post for
the "participatory budgeting" facebook group where I give a link to a listing
made by the CFA of 26 state websites that are aimed at increasing budgetary /
spending transparency.
You can find the link here
ttp://theconnectedrepublic.org/posts/346
I hope this helps.
Tiago
**************************************************
Tiago Peixoto
PhD researcher
European University Institute
Department of Political and Social Sciences
Badia Fiesolana - Via dei Roccettini, 950014
San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy
Phone: +39 39 22 12 29 09
E-mail: <email obscured> / <email obscured>
Skype: tiagopeixotoeui
Website: http://www.eui.eu**************************************************
CAUTION: If you have received this message in error please notify the sender
immediately and then delete this message along with any attachments. Please
treat the contents of this message as private and confidential.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> on behalf of Steven Clift
Sent: Mon 16/03/2009 18.16
To: <email obscured>; <email obscured>
Cc: <email obscured>; <email obscured>
Subject: [DO US] Looking for ...
I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
. I am looking for:
1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
meeting notifications, etc.
2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
hosted.
5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
other places.
8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
"what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
Thanks,
Steven Clift
http://stevenclift.comhttp://twitter.com/democracy
-----------------------------------------
Group home for US Democracy Online Exchange:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/us
Replies go to members of US Democracy Online Exchange with all posts on this
topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2lV3MOjDbFP370CDEUdCMz
For digest version or to leave US Democracy Online Exchange,
email <email obscured>
with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
US Democracy Online Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.

Cheers,
Steve
On 3/16/09, Steven Clift <email obscured>> wrote:
> I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
> . I am looking for:
>
> 1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
> to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
> meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
> meeting notifications, etc.
>
> 2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
> to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
> on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
> Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
>
> 3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
>
> 4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
> state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
> hosted.
>
> 5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
> smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
> sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
> state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
>
> 6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
> of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
> public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
>
> 7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
> http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
> other places.
>
> 8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
> "what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
> digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
>
> 9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
> requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
> them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
>
> Thanks,
> Steven Clift
> http://stevenclift.com
> http://twitter.com/democracy
>

Steven Clift wrote:
> Thank you everyone who sent in links and tips.
>
> While the slides don't yet have embedded links on all pages, here is
> what I'll be using tomorrow morning at http://newsout.org
>
> http://publicus.net/present/newsoutclift.ppt - Warning 25MB
>
> Cheers,
> Steve
>
> On 3/16/09, Steven Clift <email obscured>> wrote:
>
>> I am working up some slides for a speech this week - http://newsout.org
>> . I am looking for:
>>
>> 1. The best local or state government example of providing online access
>> to public meetings - webcasts, decision-making documents (before the
>> meeting), unexpected hand outs, real-time public questions, personalized
>> meeting notifications, etc.
>>
>> 2. A community that uses a unique Twitter #hashtag to discussion/react
>> to public meetings in real-time - particularly useful for those watching
>> on television or webcasts. Sort of like what happened with the Minnesota
>> Senate recount: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mnrecount
>>
>> 3. Local/state versions of http://www.usaspending.gov
>>
>> 4. Local sites with local government salaries online (I've seen
>> state-focused sites put up by the media) - government direct or media
>> hosted.
>>
>> 5. Anything like a U.S. local version of http://FixMyStreet.com or
>> smaller town versions of http://everyblock.com - Also, state and local
>> sites like http://OpenCongress.org or http://GovTrack.us that local or
>> state government databases to providing interesting tools to the public.
>>
>> 6. Online news sites that have become the primary interface for webcasts
>> of local public meetings, meeting schedules, source materials, etc. A
>> public cable access service that does this would also be of interest.
>>
>> 7. Any government accountability/anti-corruption sites modeled after
>> http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/initiatives/inti_open_system.htm in
>> other places.
>>
>> 8. A government or media website that provides personalized real-time
>> "what's new" alerts on public documents - Like Google News Alerts, but
>> digging into the depth of decision-making/legislative information.
>>
>> 9. Any local government that has decided to or has past an ordinance
>> requiring that all public meetings be recorded (and perhaps now record
>> them digitally and at least post audio for on-demand access).
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Steven Clift
>> http://stevenclift.com
>> http://twitter.com/democracy
>>
>>
>
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